Anna Augusta Fernald

Anna Augusta Field Fernald, 97, family and community matriarch, died June 14, 2008 at a Pittsfield hospital. She was born February 25, 1911 in Detroit, the youngest child of Savillian Warren and Anna Marie (Sjostedt) Field. Educated in Detroit and Newport schools, she graduated as valedictorian from Newport High School, Class of 1929, and graduated from Farmington State Normal School in 1931. From 1931 to 1972, she taught in the Maine communities of Temple, Weld, Newport, Corinna, Detroit and Pittsfield. In 1996, Detroit citizens named the community library in her honor, and in 2003 she was grand marshall of Detroit’s 175th anniversary parade.

Her interest and hobbies included gardening, nature study, international travel, water colors, music, traditional Swedish and Yankee cooking, designing and hooking rugs, history and current events, reading and correspondence. Her passions included social justice and environmental stewardship.

She was predeceased by her husband, George T. Fernald; sister Elida Speer; brothers and their spouses Vernon and Elizabeth, Eugene and Wynona, Paul and Yvette, Augustus, Herbert and Rowena, and George; and by her devoted companion Olney W. Bagley.

Anna is survived by her son, Douglas I. Fernald of Detroit; and by four generations of nieces and nephews including Drew, Mark and Douglas Field; Barbara Collins and family; Maxine Schissler; Alma Field; Ann Carver and Diana Chasse; sisters in law, Mildred Turner Field and Helen Fernald Daigle; devoted friends Robert and Katherine Ashe, Evelyn Brackett, Rebecca Greene, Glenna and Mary Bartlett, the David Hutchinson family of Weld and the Bernice Withee family of Detroit.

A memorial service will be celebrated by the Reverend Father C. James Martel at the Detroit Community Meetinghouse, Main Street, Detroit, at high noon on Tuesday, June 17, 2008. Burial will be private.